Islamabad: A woman injured in last week’s devastating bomb attack in a Shia-dominated area of Quetta city in southwest Pakistan died today, taking the death toll in the incident to 91.
The Shia Hazara woman died while being flown in a military aircraft from Quetta to Karachi for treatment, officials said.
“The seriously injured woman was on ventilator and succumbed to her burn injuries on the way to Karachi,” an official told the media.
Dozens of people were killed instantly when a powerful bomb hidden in a water tank went off in the Shia-dominated Hazara Town area of Quetta on February 16.
The death toll mounted steadily as bodies were dug out of the rubble of flattened buildings and people died in hospital. Shia groups have claimed that the death toll is over 100 as several victims were blown to pieces and are yet to be identified.
The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the bombing. The banned group also claimed responsibility for twin suicide bombings that killed 92 Shia Hazaras in Quetta last month.
The federal government sacked the Balochistan administration and imposed Governor’s Rule in the province last month.
Acting on the directives of Balochistan Governor Zulfiqar Magsi, 37 injured people were airlifted from Quetta to Karachi in a C-130 military transport aircraft.
However, doctors had warned that it could be dangerous to shift some seriously injured persons. Authorities went ahead with the airlift due to the insistence of some organisations, officials said.
The injured who were shifted to Karachi included 19 men, 10 women and eight children. (PTI)